High-tech hackers brought in by the Pentagon to breach US Department of Defense Web sites were able to burrow in and find 138 different security gaps, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said on Friday.
The so-called white-hat hackers were turned loose on five public Pentagon Internet pages and were offered various bounties if they could find unique vulnerabilities. The Pentagon says 1,410 hackers participated in the challenge and the first gap was identified just 13 minutes after the hunt began.
Overall, they found 1,189 vulnerabilities, but a review by the Pentagon determined that only 138 were valid and unique.
The experiment cost US$150,000. Of that, about half was paid out to the hackers as bounties, including one who received the maximum prize of US$15,000 for submitting a number of security gaps. Others received as little as US$100.
“These are ones we weren’t aware of, and now we have the opportunity to fix them. And again, it’s a lot better than either hiring somebody to do that for you, or finding out the hard way,” Carter said.
The Pentagon said this was the first time the US federal government has undertaken a program with outsiders attempting to breach the networks. Large companies have done similar things.
Called “Hack the Pentagon,” the program is to be followed by a series of initiatives, including a process that would allow anyone who finds a security gap in US Department of Defense systems to report it without fear of prosecution. The department is also to expand the bounty program to the military services and encourage contractors to allow similar scrutiny.
One hackers, David Dworken, just graduated from high school.
He said he worked on the program during his free time, logging in between homework assignments.
He ended up submitting six vulnerabilities, but they all were reported by other hackers also.
He said he started getting interested in hacking when he was in the 10th grade.
Even though he did not qualify for a payout, Dworken said it was worthwhile.
“You know, I’m just in high school. I’ve had recruiters contact me about internships over the summer,” Dworken said.
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